The Reese’s Senior Bowl week is almost upon us, with practices kicking off this week and the game scheduled for Saturday, February 3. Penn State will have three representatives, including [autotag]Adissa Isaac[/autotag] and [autotag]Johnny Dixon[/autotag], but the most high-profile Nittany Lion is junior cornerback [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag].
In the first year that the Senior Bowl has extended invites to underclassmen, King jumped at the opportunity to improve his draft stock. King is a borderline first-round draft pick, ranking between 26th and 47th overall on big boards. ESPN ranks him as the 33rd-best prospect, Pro Football Network has him as the 26th overall player, and Pro Football Focus ranks him as 47th.
King’s 2022 season when playing opposite [autotag]Joey Porter Jr.[/autotag] was sensational and well-received by Pro Football Focus, giving him an overall grade of 89 on a 1-100 scale. He was named second-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and selected third-team All-America by Pro Football Focus. This year, he took a bit of a step back and only had one pass breakup with no interceptions. However, King’s run defense graded well this year and will be a big thing to watch as next week gets rolling.
At 5-foot-11, King is a tad undersized for an outside corner, and his lack of physical ability as a corner was exposed when he went against uber-physical receivers like Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. The Senior Bowl week will be paramount for King to show NFL teams that he can stack up against bigger receivers and that his performance against the Buckeyes was just a fluke.
His football IQ and play recognition should be on full display throughout the week of practices. King is a tremendous ball-hawk, but translating those pass deflections into turnovers is an area he needs to work on. As a more than capable coverage defender in zone and man, King showing scouts that he can match up in man coverage with larger receivers will be critical in eliminating doubts about his size.
The Reese’s Senior Bowl will kick off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 3, and broadcasted on the NFL Network.